“Tales From the Backlog” is a series of articles in which WingDamage Editor-in-Chief, Jonah Gregory, finally gets around to playing through the many games he has collected throughout the years.

Well folks, it looks like I already blew it. This series of articles was started as nothing more than an excuse for me to play through old video games, specifically ones that I either completely missed or never finished back when they were new. But with Mega Man Legends, it turns out I actually did complete it way back when.

Still, it was a great excuse to play through what is a more enjoyable experience than I was expecting.

That may have come out sounding more like a backhanded compliment than intended. The truth of the matter is, our memories are dirty liars. There are so many games from the PS1 era that don’t hold up (I’m not singling it out, N64 is at least as guilty of this, if not more so), that I was very worried Mega Man Legends was going to fall into that category.

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"Nice to see you Jim. You been working out?"

“2 Player Reviews” is a series of articles in which two members of the Wing Damage staff separately review a game, so as to give our readers multiple perspectives on the subject matter.

Player 1 - Jonah “spambot” Gregory

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one of the big Playstation exclusives this holiday season and as such has received all kinds of hype. Even my mom, who doesn’t follow games at all has seen enough commercials to ask me about it. Sony and developer Naughty Dog have high hopes for Uncharted 2. The game even made WingDamage.com’s distinguish list of anticipated games.

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As much as I dislike using the word “metal” as an adjective, I simply cannot think of a better way to describe Brutal Legend. How else do you describe a game set in a fantasy world inspired by classic heavy metal album art? With it’s impressive 107-song soundtrack, cameos from heavy metal icons such as Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy Kilmister, it’s impossible to describe Brutal Legend as anything but metal.

Being a Tim Schafer game, it’s pretty much a given that the writing is top notch. The metal references and inside jokes are good for a laugh here and there. All of the dialogue is very well written, and expertly preformed. Jack Black is Eddie Riggs. He fits the part perfectly, and his enthusiastic performance is really what makes the character so lovable.

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We all have those games that we miss the first time around. With the busy release schedule of modern gaming, no one has time to play everything. That is why we at WingDamage present to you “Fashionably Late Reviews“. This is our series on games from the current generation of consoles that we may have missed on their initial release, but have gone back to experience now.

Back in August, I wrote a piece on Piles of Shame, and had our readers vote on which game I should play through to completion and review. “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” won with 48% of the votes. There is much love for this game and, while it isn’t perfect, it is easy to see why.

Everything about Drake’s Fortune is designed to give the feeling of a big summer blockbuster movie. The plot revolves around ancient lost treasure, the odds are stacked overwhelmingly against you, it is full of exotic locations, and there are lots of explosions. Oh, and don’t forget the sassy female sidekick.

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We all have those games that we miss the first time around. With the busy release schedule of modern gaming, no one has time to play everything. That is why we at WingDamage present to you “Fashionably Late Reviews“. This is our series on games from the current generation of consoles that we may have missed on their initial release, but have gone back to experience now.

“Heavenly Sword” has just about everything wanted in a launch title. Though the reviews from the big names only pegged it as “Decent”. From my admittedly average gamer’s point of view, this game was surprisingly awesome.

Even on a standard definition television, the graphics are gorgeous. I am especially impressed by character expressions. Little nuances that make dialogue and character development more believable, lifelike and compelling. I’m sure we’ve all played games where the camera zooms in on a character’s intense expression in order to indicate “It’s on now” and we’re left sitting, waiting for some kind of change, that is never quite as fulfilling as we want.

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Lone Wolf and Cub is the story of a former samurai turned assassin and his infant son as they travel the path of meifumadō , “the Road to Hell.” The epic fight scenes go hand in hand with historical detail and philosophical lessons. This manga has influenced everyone from Frank Miller to Quentin Tarantino and popularized the idea of the Ronin (the masterless samurai).

There have been 7 films, 2 television shows, and a futuristic sci-fi comic retelling. Yet here in the west, Lone Wolf and Cub has remained at best a cult hit. I was thinking how amazing a video game based on this series would be.

I was even going to write an article about how kick @#$ a game based on this would be. Then, like the good phony journalist that I am I started doing a little research and found someone had already made it. But it doesn’t exist.

Read on to learn more about the mythical Lone Wolf game and why it needs to be remade for XBLA. (more…)